1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for printing a cloth by an ink-jet system, an ink set for use in such a process, and a print and a processed article obtained thereby.
2. Related Background Art
At present, textile printing is principally conducted by screen printing or roller printing. Both methods are, however, unfit for multi-kind small-quantity production and not adapted to quickly cope with the fashion of the day. Therefore, there has recently been a demand for establishment of an electronic printing system making no use of any plate.
In compliance with this demand, many textile printing processes according to an ink-jet system have been proposed. Various demands are made on such textile printing processes.
As conditions required for ink-jet textile printing, the following may be mentioned;
(1) being able to achieve sufficient color depth upon coloring of ink;
(2) being able to provide a print high in color yield of coloring matter on cloth and to conduct a waste water treatment after completion of washing with ease;
(3) causing little irregular bleeding due to color mixing between inks of different colors on cloth;
(4) being able to achieve color reproduction within a wide range; and
(5) being able to always conduct stable production of prints.
In order to satisfy these requirements, the principal strategies used heretofore have been to add various additives to ink, to control shot-in ink quantity, or to subject cloth to a pretreatment.
As an ink-jet printing method for cloth, for example, a polyester fabric, on which disperse dyes are used to conduct textile printing, a method making use of disperse dyes having a sublimation temperature of 180xc2x0 C. or higher is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-118477. However, when textile printing is conducted with inks making use, as coloring matter, of the disperse dyes in which attention is paid to the sublimation temperature only, good coloring is achieved where the individual inks are used singly to dye, but the color depth and color tone after the dyeing, and color reproducibility upon dyeing under the same dyeing conditions, greatly vary according to the combination of dyes used where the inks of different colors are mixed on the cloth, so that the above requirements (1), (4) and (5) are often not satisfied at the same time. Therefore, such a method has been yet insufficient to achieve various color expressions.
Accordingly, it has been impossible to fully satisfy the various requirements described above, in particular, requirement (5), by the prior art only.
The extent to which the range of color reproduction of requirement (4) can be widened is also important for wide-spread usage of ink-jet printing. The reason is as follows. In conventional textile printing, a printing paste is prepared every color. Therefore, a great many dyes of different tones may be used freely. On the other hand, in ink-jet textile printing, various colors are produced by mixing inks on cloth. Therefore, the colors as of inks to be used are limited to several colors only.
In conventional ink-jet printing on a recording material such as paper, all colors are often brought out according to the subtractive color process by three primary colors of yellow, magenta and cyan.
However, when printing has been conducted with inks separately containing a disperse dye on a cloth composed mainly of polyester or the like according to ink-jet printing, colors in a region of from orange to scarlet, which are often used in women""s garments, have been unable to be reproduced with the same tone and chroma as those in the conventional textile printing by the mere technique of a mixing yellow and magenta colors. Besides, colors of from violescent to bluish region have also been unable to be fully reproduced by the technique of mixing magenta and cyan colors.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an ink-jet printing process and an ink set which can satisfy such requirements for the usual ink-jet printing as described above when conducting ink-jet printing on a cloth composed mainly of fibers dyeable with disperse dyes, can provide a print markedly wide in color reproduction range, particularly, in a region of from orange to scarlet, and can stably form images even when the conditions of dyeing treatment by heating are somewhat changed, and a print and a processed article obtained thereby.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet printing process and an ink set which can satisfy such requirements for the usual ink-jet printing as described above when conducting ink-jet printing on a cloth composed mainly of fibers dyeable with disperse dyes, can provide a print markedly wide in color reproduction range, particularly, of from violescent to bluish region, and can stably form images even when the conditions of dyeing treatment by heating are somewhat changed, and a print and a processed article obtained thereby.
Such objects can be achieved by the present invention described below.
According to the present invention, there is thus provided a printing process in which at least two inks of orange and red colors are applied to a cloth according to an ink-jet system to conduct printing, which comprises at least three steps of:
(a) applying the two inks to the cloth in such a manner that at least a part of the inks overlaps each other;
(b) subjecting the cloth, to which the inks have been applied, to a heat treatment; and
(c) washing the heat-treated cloth, wherein the cloth is a cloth comprising fibers dyeable with disperse dyes, each of the inks comprises a coloring matter, a compound for dispersing the coloring matter and an aqueous liquid medium, the orange ink comprises, as the coloring matter, at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Orange 13, 29, 31:1, 33, 49, 54, 55, 66, 73, 119 and 163, and the red ink comprises, as the coloring matter, at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Red 54, 72, 73, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93, 111, 126, 127, 134, 135, 143, 145, 152, 153, 154, 159, 164, 167:1, 177, 181, 204, 206, 207, 221, 258, 278, 283, 288, 311, 323, 343, 348 and 356 and C.I. Disperse Violet 33.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a printing process in which at least two inks of red and blue colors are applied to a cloth according to an ink-jet system to conduct printing, which comprises at least three steps of:
(a) applying the two inks to the cloth in such a manner that at least a part of the inks overlaps each other;
(b) subjecting the cloth, to which the inks have been applied, to a heat treatment; and
(c) washing the heat-treated cloth, wherein the cloth is a cloth comprising fibers dyeable with disperse dyes, each of the inks comprises a coloring matter, a compound for dispersing the coloring matter and an aqueous liquid medium, the red ink comprises, as the coloring matter, at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Red 54, 72, 73, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93, 111, 126, 127, 134, 135, 143, 145, 152, 153, 154, 159, 164, 167:1, 177, 181, 204, 206, 207, 221, 258, 278, 283, 288, 311, 323, 343, 348 and 356 and C.I. Disperse Violet 33, and the blue ink comprises, as the coloring matter, at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Blue 56, 73, 113, 128, 148, 154, 158, 165, 165:1, 165:2, 183, 197, 201, 214, 224, 225, 257, 266, 267, 287, 358 and 368.
According to the present invention, there is further provided a print obtained by any one of the printing processes described above.
According to the present invention, there is still further provided an ink set suitable for use in the printing process described above, comprising at least orange and red inks.
According to the present invention, there is yet still further provided an ink set suitable for use in the printing process described above, comprising at least red and blue inks.
According to the present invention, there is yet still further provided a print which is dyed with two coloring matters of orange and red in a state that at least a part of the coloring matters overlaps each other, wherein the coloring matter of orange comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Orange 13, 29, 31:1, 33, 49, 54, 55, 66, 73, 119 and 163, the coloring matter of red comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Red 54, 72, 73, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93, 111, 126, 127, 134, 135, 143, 145, 152, 153, 154, 159, 164, 167:1, 177, 181, 204, 206, 207, 221, 258, 278, 283, 288, 311, 323, 343, 348 and 356 and C.I. Disperse Violet 33, and the print is obtained by printing a cloth comprising fibers dyeable with disperse dyes.
According to the present invention, there is yet still further provided a print which is dyed with two coloring matters of red and blue in a state that at least a part of the coloring matters overlaps each other, wherein the coloring matter of red comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Red 54, 72, 73, 86, 88, 91, 92, 93, 111, 126, 127, 134, 135, 143, 145, 152, 153, 154, 159, 164, 167:1, 177, 181, 204, 206, 207, 221, 258, 278, 283, 288, 311, 323, 343, 348 and 356 and C.I. Disperse Violet 33, the coloring matter of blue comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of C.I. Disperse Blue 56, 73, 113, 128, 148, 154, 158, 165, 165:1, 165:2, 183, 197, 201, 214, 224, 225, 257, 266, 267, 287, 358 and 368, and the print is obtained by printing a cloth comprising fibers dyeable with disperse dyes.
According to the present invention, there is yet still further provided a processed article obtained by further processing any one of the prints described above.